in brief
Polishing the chain
new face
millennium update
Nctwork fans
City disturbance fails to
stop London branch
2 What'sNewS Issue 7'July 1999
With most millennium compliance
activities finished or to be
completed soon, we can look to
minimizing risks further through such
vehicles as chain testing. With the support
of the global millennium chain testing
team, the idea behind the process is to
verify that individually compliant systems
function together in critical processes.
What additional insurance can this testing
offer? Regular Y2K testing verifies
functionality of individual information
systems (IS), mostly through date-related
tests. Chain testing however, looks at the
sequence of IS involved in a critical
process, such as the loans and equities
processes, and whether this chain will
function bug-free come the year 2000.
Such process-level testing requires that
each receiving end of the system can
process the output of the previous system
in the chain. In this manner risk factors
not previously tested such as interfaces
between systems, IS which were not yet
tested, and hardware and middleware
linking the systems are all covered.
As with all millennium program projects,
chain testing aims to maintain business
processes within Rabobank International
(RI) come 1 January, especially cliënt re-
lated products. Louis Boekholtz, subpro
ject manager, and his team have provided
guidelines regarding the procedure, from
identifying the most critical processes, to
reporting on final test results. 'With the
cooperation of the business continuity
planning team, we are currently in the
phase of risk analysis with emphasis on
business process,' says Boekholtz. IT risk
factors include the number of electronic
interfaces and hardware platform transi-
tions involved, and overall complexity of
the process. 'Chain tests within Rabobank
Nederland have been successful and we
are certain that the same methods can be
applied within RI,' Boekholtz says.
Activities (which must be finished by I
October) are on Schedule with London,
New York, Frankfort and Utrecht making
good progress. Hong Kong branch com
pleted regular Y2K testing of all systems
using the chain method as a basic means
of testing. Says Boekholtz: 'They did a
tremendous job. By applying the chain
testing philosophy from the beginning,
Hong Kong saved resources by eliminating
the need for additional chain testing'.
The Rl-sponsored, Dutch men's and
women's hockey teams recently
participated in the Champions Trophy in
Brisbane, Australia. Our players showed
their true colors in the most prestigious
international field hockey tournament
next to the Olympics and World
Championships. After a close final with
the Aussies, the women captured second,
and the men finished third behind
Australia and Korea. Both teams were
Team members enjoying the Australian sun
treated to a special reception, jointly
hosted by the Dutch consul and our
Brisbane RI colleagues.
Rabobank International's London
branch narrowly escaped serious
damage to equipment and possible injury
to staff when a group of quick-thinking
security guards intervened in what was the
city's most violent disturbance since the
1990 Trafalgar Square riots. Police said up
to 10,000 protestors from various anti-
capitalist groups took part in demonstra-
tions, which began as peaceful protests
against the C!8 Summit in Germany, hut
got out of hand as the afternoon pro-
gressed. About 50 protesters smashed the
glass walls of the RI building and stormed
inside, destroying equipment at the recep
tion desk before being contained by secu-
rity guards. Rabobankers were rushed to
the safety of the lifts, and entrances to our
offices effectively barricaded. Says Gijs
van der Schrieck, branch manager, 'we do
not believe the bank was a specific target,
we just happened to be at the wrong place
at the wrong time. Staff cannot express
enough gratitude to the guards who risked
bodily injury to get the situation under
control. They are the real "heros" in this
unfortunate story'. Following the distur-
bances, a special gathering was held of all
staff and security guards where Van der
Schrieck thanked the men and women on
behalf of the branch for their bravery with
champagne and travel vouchers. Thanks
to their quick actions and those who
worked through the weekend to secure the
building, we were able to conduct 'busi
ness as usual' first thing Monday morning.
then RI had heen involved in interbank busi
ness only. No stranger to start-up operations
Harding was responsihle for estahlishing
export credit departments at her two previ
ous positions with hirst National Bank and
l irstCorp Merchant Bank. 'Beginning
corporate business at RI was an attractive
challenge for me - well within my interest
and experience in international commercial
bankingshe says. 'By showing our strength
within food and agribusiness, we've
managed to attract a number of key clients
in a short period of time and further the
reputation of RI in South Africa.'
Masthead
Editorial Staff
Coordination Mirjam Diepenbrock, Marketing RI
Managing Editor Anne Lavelle
(The Write Company)
Editors David Brown.Samantha Dobson,
Lisa Petrie
Distribution Len Fraser
Not quite a new
face to Rabobank
International (RI),
Carol Harding of
South Africa Rcp-
resentative Office
nevertheless repre-
sents an important
'new' for the network - she's the first woman
to be promoted to the position of general
manager. Harding was rccruited by the bank
as senior relationship manager specifically to
set up the corporate banking arm of our op
erations in Southern Africa in 1996; until
Editorial Address
Rabobank International Marketing, UC B652
P.O.Box 17100,3500 HG Utrecht
Telephone +31 (0)30 216 2433.
Telefax +31 (0)30 216 1976
Rabomail
mirjam.diepenbrockautc.rabobank.com
Design the write co/ii^/mij,Amsterdam
Lithographyletteêj Niek van Dijk, Amsterdam
Printing Drukkerij Cliteur bv, Amsterdam
Please send address changes by email to
Mirjam Diepenbrock, Marketing RI
What's NewS is complimentary for internal staff.
Rabobank Group yearly subscription price, NLG 125
